Stile: Another misstep at a crucial time

Mike Rice is more than just another sad example of an abusive coach, kicking, bullying and hurling basketballs at players’ heads. The fired Rutgers basketball coach has just become another angry voice of intolerance.

Rice picked the worst things to be caught saying — vulgar, homophobic slurs directed to impressionable college kids — and he was caught saying them at the worst time politically.

And the Rutgers University officials who slapped Rice on the wrist a few months ago with a suspension and a fine now find themselves swallowed in a sea change in the politics of sexual orientation, particularly because a video of Rice and his attacks on his players went global on Wednesday.

"To have an adult, an administrator, an athletic figure on the campus use the type of homophobic language, the misogynous language is just shocking and an outrage, and it has no place for any professional that is hired in a university that we fund in New Jersey," Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver said in a radio interview on Wednesday.

When Rice drove his family 300 miles from his old job in western Pennsylvania to take the Rutgers post three years ago, he entered a state that was rapidly becoming more supportive of gay rights. Voters now back same-sex marriage by 64 percent to 30 percent, up from a 57 percent versus 37 percent, a year ago.

Every public school is now required to hire an anti-bullying specialist as a result of bipartisan legislation Governor Christie signed in January 2011. That law, the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, was fueled in part by the suicide of Tyler Clementi, the gay Rutgers University freshman from Ridgewood who was the victim of cyber-bullying by fellow students.

And the Legislature is pushing a bill that would ban gay-conversion therapy. Democratic Sen. Barbara Buono of Metuchen, the presumptive Democratic challenger, has signaled that gay rights issues would be at the forefront of her campaign against Christie this November.

It’s a political environment that no longer tolerates intolerance of gays. So it was no surprise then to see legislators lining up to condemn Rice and Rutgers. The outrage gained steam on Tuesday when Christie released a statement saying that he was "deeply disturbed" by Rice’s conduct on the video and that it raised troubling questions that Rutgers officials needed to answer.

"Rutgers needs to explain why this was kept essentially secret, and they need to remove this man now!" Sweeney’s statement said.

After the news of Rice’s firing on Wednesday morning, Sweeney and Oliver took to the airwaves, alerting reporters of their interviews on ESPN and sports radio stations. They turned their ire toward Rutgers, especially Athletic Director Tim Pernetti, who made the decision in December to suspend Rice for three games and fine him $50,000.

The uproar over the Rice video not only comes at a time of a major shift toward tolerance of gays in the political environment. Rutgers is still haunted by the Clementi tragedy, which like the Rice mess, drew unfavorable national attention.

And it comes as the university is just beginning the transformation into the statewide system envisioned by last year’s sweeping reorganization of higher education under Christie.

Some legislators have expressed concerns that Rutgers’ academic standing has been hurt by the school’s pursuit of big-time sports, which has produced a few football bowl games and a mediocre men’s basketball performance. Rice, who was paid $655,000, compiled an unimpressive 39-51 won-loss record.

"We have dwindling dollars spent on higher education," said Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, D-Mercer, the state’s first openly gay legislator. "I think it is important to have a good sports program … but do you really want to have somebody out front calling people slurs based on sex orientation?"

Oliver also says she thinks the Legislature needs to "revisit its continued support of Rutgers if better decision making can’t happen in terms of who runs that athletic program."

Rutgers is also expected to submit its first budget request to these now angry lawmakers since last June’s legislation that authorized the sweeping reorganization.

The total cost of that merger is still a mystery to officials. And nobody is quite clear yet how much money Rutgers will get from the higher education bond act approved by voters last November. There is now a possibility that those delicate questions will be aired just as the Legislature begins an investigation into the handling of the Rice incident.

Paul Sarlo, the Wood-Ridge Democrat who heads the Senate Budget Committee, doubts Rutgers plans and finances will be reined in because of a "bad apple," but people will "certainly ask those questions."

Rice was hired three years ago to revive Rutgers University’s moribund men’s basketball team and bolster the Rutgers University Scarlet Knight brand, possibly with a long-sought berth in "March Madness," the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. He didn’t accomplish that. He left behind something that Rutgers leaders would rather not have — more scrutiny.